HANOI, March 16 (Reuters): Vietnam stocks rose more than 2% rebounding after a surprise move by the central bank to cut interest rates, with analysts viewing the policy move as further action by authorities to ease a credit crunch facing property developers.
The State Bank of Vietnam became the first South-East Asian central bank to lower interest rates for several years, when it announced late on Tuesday it was cutting several policy rates to increase liquidity and support economic growth.
Gains in Vietnamese equities also mirrored a broad rebound in Asian stocks after U.S. markets rallied overnight as fears about contagion in the banking sector following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) eased.
Vietnam stocks were led by gains in securities firms, banks and property developers. SSI Securities rose 6.8%, Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank was up 4.1% and property developer No Va Land gained 6.1%.
Hanoi-based economist Can Van Luc said market expectations for the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease the pace of rate hikes were a factor behind the Vietnamese rate cuts.
"The Fed is expected to ease its rate hikes and will likely end its tightening trend by the end of the second quarter, reducing pressure on interest rates and on the Vietnamese dong," Luc said.
The dong currency was steady against the dollar on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv data.
Khoon Goh, head of Asia Research at ANZ, saw the rate cuts as a response to concern about the domestic property sector rather than U.S. banking turmoil.
In a note, ANZ Research said it remained to be seen whether measures to support the property market would stabilise sentiment.
"We nevertheless see this as a growth headwind, on top of the projected export slowdown this year," said the note. ANZ expects the economy to grow 5% in 2023, down from an 8.02% expansion last year.
Vietnam's government issued a resolution on Sunday ordering the central bank to take appropriate measures to ease a credit crunch for property developers after liquidity difficulties in the sector.
Vo Tri Thanh, an economist at Vietnam's Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy, noted the central bank had still kept some other key rates unchanged, including the refinance rate and the cap on dong deposit interest rates at banks.
The central bank had also recently bought dollars to shore up its foreign exchange reserves, which could be sitting at around $100 billion, Thanh said.
Natixis economist Trinh Nguyen said, however, the rate cut could make the dong more vulnerable since it had been carried out to help sectors facing liquidity issues "at the expense of risking fanning inflationary pressures." - Reuters
